It is with great sadness that we confirm former partner of Shorts, John Bown has passed away at the age of 82.
(Pictured 4th from right on the front row in 2010 at his retirement)
John's funeral will take place at 3.00 pm on Friday 17th February at St John's Church, Walton Back Lane, Chesterfield, S42 7LT.
John Bown joined Shorts in 1968 as a partner, having previously worked for Watson Bird & Co, JA Roberts & Co, and Cooper Bros. John was a popular member of the team, who ultimately led the firm for many years as Senior Partner, playing a significant role in the ongoing development of Shorts until his retirement in 2010.
Despite retiring over 12 years ago, many of the current Shorts team still fondly recall working alongside John, and they have been kind enough to share some of their memories with us now.
"I joined the firm in 1988 and worked with John for over 20 years. He was great to work under, and alongside and those who have known John will, I know, have fond memories of him. John was sharp as a pin, a commercially driven individual, and very well-known and respected in the Chesterfield business community. His passing is a sad loss for those who knew him."
Chris Chambers
"I met him over 37 years ago when I joined Shorts. He was initially 'just a boss' to me, but as time progressed and I got to know him a little better, I discovered that he was a warm, kind, generous, and charismatic man with a razor-sharp mind and wit, who had a fantastic sense of humour which he shared with all. He led Shorts for many years and this in no small part contributed to the number of staff who chose to spend their whole career with the firm. I admired him greatly both personally and professionally and I have no doubt that he will be sadly missed by all who had the good fortune to have met him"
Margaret Hall
"Mr Bown called me one afternoon to ask if I could go across the road in 15 minutes. The heavens then opened and it started to rain very heavily. I thought I’m not going across the road in that and decided to wait for it to stop. My window was direct across from Mr Bown’s and after a while, Mr Bown appeared at his window and looked at me and tapped his watch. I pointed at the rain and shook my head to which he signalled for me to make my way over. Needless to say, he won and I got drenched.
Anita Purslove
"I particularly recall the first partners meeting that I attended. Being newly promoted to partner, I was early to the meeting, and only John was there in the room. With a glint in his eye, he leaned over and said "you do know that you're only here because of me, don't you? None of the other partners approved your appointment." He had a wonderfully wicked, and dry sense of humour, which we shared from that point on."
Malcolm Pope
"John was a very tenacious and competitive sportsman (tennis, football, and racket ball to name but a few).
He had a wicked sense of humour and accepted pranks willingly. In the days before mobile telephones and such like we had an internal telephone system where the phone just rang and you had no idea who was calling. I had an inkling when the phone rang once that it was John chasing me for a file that was not quite ready and I decided to ignore the incessant ringing and keep my head down. The phone was still ringing when the door to my office opened and John said ‘are you going to answer that?’ and I said ‘I wondered what that noise was and then picked up the receiver and said no one is there!’ because of course it was John who had left his receiver off the hook on his desk downstairs. We both had a good laugh."
Andrew Heelin
"I remember my first Christmas party at Shorts in 2002. We ended up in a Chesterfield pub until late into the evening. I'd only been with Shorts for 3 months and hadn't worked out who was who, so I must have been looking a bit lost when a lovely older (than me) gentleman came over to talk to me. He was so friendly, asking about how I joined Shorts, where I'd worked before, and how I was finding things. In the end, we chatted for what felt like ages on and off and it was only after the party that I found out I'd been spilling my heart out to the Senior Partner. I mentioned it to him afterwards and he found it really funny that I'd felt embarrassed on learning what I'd done."
Jo Grant
